News

Lion snaps up Dutch retailer

LION CAPITAL, the European buyout firm best known for investing in Jimmy Choo shoes, is close to walking away with the Dutch department-store chain Hema for an estimated 1.1 billion (£745m), writes Matthew Goodman.

It has seen off competition from rival private-equity groups to win the auction for the retailer, which has about 300 outlets across the Netherlands and more than 50 in Belgium.

It also has a presence in Germany and Luxembourg, and employs about 10,000 workers.

The business is being sold by Maxeda, a private equity-backed retail conglomerate headed by Tony DeNunzio, the former chief executive of Asda.

Hema, a household name in its native Netherlands with a store in almost every town, sells a mixture of clothing, food and domestic goods. Last year it generated sales of 1.3 billion.

Lion specialises in buying consumer-related companies. It also already owns Weetabix, the cereal brand; the maker of Kettle